21 Questions
by poeticgrace
Summary: Twenty-one questions get twenty-one answers in the relationship between Rachel Berry and Noah Puckerman. ONE SHOT.


**1. Would you love me if I was down and out?**  
Puck looked down at the cards in his hand and shook his head. Just fifteen minutes ago, he had been on top of the world with nearly enough chips on the table to get the little sparkling engagement ring had been checking out in the window earlier, and now he was wondering if there was enough left in his bank account to cover the rent due next week. He knew that Rachel would be disappointed when she found out how much he had lost in just a matter of a few hands of Hold 'Em, and as her eyes find his when she enters the casino floor, he knows that he's in for a lecture later. And then Rachel is at his side, slapping down five big bills on the table and whispering in his ear, "You can do it, Noah. I believe in you."

**2. Would you still have love for me?  
**He wakes up in a motel room that he doesn't recognize with a blonde he doesn't know wrapped around his left side and a pair of handcuffs latching him securely to the cheap brass bed. There are enough alcohol bottles littering the secondhand dresser in the corner to explain how he found himself in that predicament and a flashing light on his cell phone telling him that Rachel had tried to call him thirty-six times. It takes him seven minutes to get free, four to grab a quick shower, thirteen to drive across town and two to tell her that he's "so fucking sorry" that he can't see straight. She cries for three days before she forgives him without explanation. He still cant believe his luck that a girl like that loves him.

**3. If I fell off tomorrow, would you still love me?  
**His manager calls him in to tell him that his debut record basically tanked and that the label is dropping him. Rachel is working doubles at this tiny little diner a few blocks from Broadway to pay the bills until the residuals start to come in, and now he has to go home to tell her that they're probably never going to come. There are tears in his eyes when he tells her that he's sorry and that he'll never be good enough to make it off his music and that they should have invested in her career rather than his. She listens patiently, his head in her lap and her fingers in his hair, before she starts to contradict him. "I loved you before you signed this deal, Noah," she reminds him soothingly with a smile, "and I will love you long after you sign the next one."

**4. If I didn't smell so good, would you still hug me?  
**He shows up at her house after practice smelling like the lucky pair of boxers Finn hasn't taken off all season, but she still hugs him tightly when he comes bounding up the stairs to see her. "You smell atrocious," she whispers between hugs, a half-delighted, half-disgusted smile tugging at the corner of her lips. He laughs in the throaty way he does whenever her body is pressed against his, knowing there is no way that this is going anywhere anytime fast. And then she completely sends him off-kilter when she smiles up at him shyly beneath dark lashes and suggests, "Maybe I should take you to my shower and help you get clean."

**5. If I got locked up and sentenced to a quarter century, could I count on you to be there to support me mentally?  
**The thing that no one told him about juvie was that he wouldn't be allowed to have any underage visitors. It's not enough to just see his mother once a week, and he really misses his friends. None of them write for the first week he's there, but his mother shows up with a sealed pink padded envelope that second week and he recognizes the flourished handwriting and gold star stickers immediately. He doesn't open it until later when he's alone in his bunk, staring up at the photo of the glee club he tucked in the mattress above his head. Her letter fills him on all the gossip that doesn't seem to matter here and her concerns about him that do and a whole lot of things that probably fall in between. Then, he takes out the shiny disk tucked in the very bottom of the envelope and slips it into his CD player. He slumbers a million times better that night with her sweet melodies lulling him to sleep.

**6. If I went back to a hoopty from a Benz, would you poof and disappear like some of my friends?  
**Rachel holds his hand tightly on their little Lima street, waving sadly at the dark muscle car as it gets wheeled away on the back of the tow truck. He had loved that Corvette more than anything and swore that he would never get rid of it. Then, his mom had found out that his baby sister had cancer and that there was a lot the insurance wouldn't cover and he'd sold it to some dealer from Columbus to help her make payments on everything. He thinks about chasing after the truck, wondering if there wasn't some other way he could make it happen. And then he hears his sister squeal with delight as she got her kite higher into the air and doesn't notice her hair has been replaced with a hot pink Hello Kitty headscarf. Instead, he only sees her brilliant smile and one of his true reasons for living.

**7. If I was hit and I was hurt, would you be by my side?  
**Rachel had been in the middle of an important investors' dress rehearsal when the stage manager had halted them in the middle of a critical scene to deliver the news. She was in the back of a town car immediately and by his side at the hospital within a matter of minutes. He never looked both ways when he crossed the street, and she was always teasing him that he would get hit by a bus someday. She had no way of knowing that it would actually come true and that today would be that day. The doctors tell her that it's very touch-and-go, but she doesn't listen really. She only holds his hand and prays every Hebrew prayer in her repertoire that he'll open those amazing hazel eyes. She wouldn't leave his side until six day later when he finally did.

**8. If it was time to put in work, would you be down to ride?  
**They had saved every spare cent for three years to put a downpayment on a little foreclosure one-bedroom brownstone in Brooklyn, and the day they finally move in is one of the best of their young lives. After the deliverymen leave and there are cardboard boxes scattered around all five rooms of their new house, he tosses a paintbrush in her direction and tells her that it's time to really get to work. They work side by side for two months to get it ready for the big housewarming party, and he never once hears her complain about the physical labor she has to endure between dance classes, rehearsals, voice lessons and physical training. His girl is a trooper.

**9. If I ain't rap 'cause I flipped burgers at Burger King, would you be ashamed to tell your friends you feelin' me?  
**Rachel knows that the exact last person she should have feelings for is Noah Puckerman. He has tortured her and her friends for the past three years, ever since she showed up in a red plaid skirt and moose sweater on the first day of seventh grade. He regularly tosses Kurt in dumpsters, locks Artie in the toilets and showers Tina and Mercedes with slushies. However, when he pressing his hips into her like that and dragging his strong fingers over her scalp like this, she knows that the pounding in her heart is due to more than the physical excitement of his mere proximity. And when Kurt admonishes her about their dalliance the next day before glee rehearsal, she simply shrugs and tells him that she likes him. Even Kurt has to admit that he's pretty cute.

**10. In the bed, if I used my tongue, would you like that?  
**They've been together for most of senior year when prom finally rolls around, and Rachel is feeling a little brave on the elevator ride up to the room he'd gotten for the night. She takes him as soon as they walk into the sitting area part of their two-room suite, using her hands and her tongue in the way that always makes him completely weak in the knees. When he comes apart a few minutes later, he sort of hates how cocky she looks when she wipes her mouth with the back of her hand. His competitive streak comes out then as he pushes her back against the bed, staring up at her with fierce eyes while he slowly lifts the hem of her impossibly long dress. She arches into the mattress a minute later when his head disappears beneath the skirt, and he's pretty sure that he wins.

**11. If I wrote you a love letter, would you write back?  
**Puck is trying to think of a really sweet way to finally propose the summer after they both graduate from Julliard. He's watched nearly every romantic comedy in her collection, consulted with all of their friends, even done a few late-night searches on the Internet in a moment of desperation. He finally decides to just do it one morning over breakfast when they're at their favorite cafe. He writes it on a napkin, slides it across the table and goes to the bathroom to wash his hands. He expects tears when he comes back a few minutes later, but Rachel is busy pouring soy milk into her organic oatmeal to do more than smile up at him when he sits down. He's about to ask what the fuck is going on when he looks down at his plate to find another napkin with a neat "Yes" in her handwriting on it.

**12. Now would you leave me if your father found out I was thuggin'?  
**Rachel knows that it's absolutely the worst time to decide that she wants to try Puckleberry 2.0 when Puck gets arrested for trying to steal an ATM with his mom's car at the convenience store. Everyone looks at her as if she's crazy as she marks down the days until he's free in a kitten calendar in her locker, but she doesn't mind. She has decided that she loves Noah Puckerman and he's decided that he can stand her loving him and those two things add up to them being together now. However, her fathers aren't as thrilled when she asks them to drive her forty miles so she can visit him one Sunday. Their daughter had always had a flair for the dramatic, so it only made sense that her own star-crossed lovers story would star her and a juvenile delinquent.

**13. Do you believe me when I tell you, you the one I'm loving?  
**Quinn had just given birth and Finn is crying in the hallway and Rachel hasn't seen him for at least three hours. Mercedes is in with the mother, and the rest of the club is hovering around the nursery window staring at the baby that was never supposed to be. She thinks about comforting Finn and wonders if there is anything she can do for Quinn and knows that her place ultimately with either. Instead, she goes down to the chapel on the ground floor and finds him sobbing in the front pew, just repeating his daughters name over and over among the tears. She presses her body tightly against his and holds his hand and starts to cry with him because there really isn't anything left to do. When he whispers that he loves her later when his lips are against her temple and they're both staring at Beth as she sleeps in the nursery, Rachel believes him because she knows he wouldn't make it through this without her.

**14. Are you mad 'cause I'm asking you 21 questions?  
**Puck hates surprises and Rachel loves them, so they've been fighting all week over this big ordeal she's planning for his twenty-first birthday. She'd threaten to call the whole thing off if he didn't stop asking questions, but she knew that is exactly what he is counting on. Instead, she just makes her plan even more elaborate with every question, teasing him about all the possibilities the night could hold, including flying his mother up from Lima so she could count every shot he took at the bar personally. He's relieved when Saturday night finally comes and they end up at this tiny dive bar they've passed a few times when they were exploring the neighborhood around her apartment. It's amateur night and she serenades him with a really breathy version of a Norah Jones standard. Later, he decides that it's the best birthday he's ever had and he's all for surprises when she reprises her performance in a pair of black satin panties with his initials and a gold star embroidered on the hip.

**15. Are you my soulmate?**  
He listens to Sam tell him about his almost-wedding with Brittany a few days before the Mayan Apocalypse and contemplates the idea of soul mates. Puck has never really fully believed in the concept because he hasn't found a girl that could quite live up to the name. Santana was basically the female version of him, but she liked chicks so that counted her out. Tina was too hung up in Mike (and Blaine) still, Britt had that thing going on with Evans, Mercedes was a diva and Sugar just plain annoyed the shit out of him. Quinn used to be cool but their history was muddy at best. But Berry, well, she was Jewish and was kinda badass in her own way and was definitely headed somewhere. She wasn't, however, surprised when he showed up on her doorstep two weeks later.

**16. Do you trust me enough to tell me your dreams?**  
Her dads are away on another one of those Rosie cruises of theirs when she wakes up in tears from a dreadful nightmare at 3 a.m. She thinks about calling Finn but knows that he never hears his cell when he's deep in a REM cycle. Instead, she reaches blindly in the dark and dials his number from memory, not even waiting until he's managed a sleepy hello before demanding that he come over. Puck doesn't argue and drives across Lima in the middle of the night, talking softly on the phone with her until he pulls up in front of her house. She's waiting in bare feet in the foyer when he comes in, and he holds her tightly as she recounts the terrible dream that has her so scared. After making her a cup of tea and checking the backyard for the fifth time for serial killers, he finally convinces her to try to get some sleep on the sofa in the living room. Rachel swears she's never slept was well when she wakes up in his arms the next morning.

**17. If I was down, would you say things to make me smile?**  
Puck is sad, like really sad, for a good two weeks after the end of football season senior year. He knows that the end is quickly approaching, and as much as he pretends that he wants to get out of here, he's also petrified that it'll never be this good again. He's at the top at McKinley, the cream of the crop, the ruler of the kingdom. He's nothing outside these four walls. The thought of being just another Lima Loser is absolutely terrifying, but he'll never admit that aloud to anyone. Sometimes he thinks that Rachel is the only one that really knows. When she starts to suspect that he's failing tests on purpose so that he won't have to deal with reality, she doesn't give him one of her patented lectures. Instead, she sidles up to his side one day after glee and tells him that she thinks he'll look really badass in purple and white at NYU.

**18. If I was with some other chick and someone happened to see and when you asked me about it I said it wasn't me, would you believe me?**  
He's at a jewelry store in Westerville with Quinn one holiday break when he comes back to Lima with Rachel so that she can visit her fathers and force him to spend time with his own family. It's like two days before Hanukkah and he's been everywhere trying to find the perfect gift for Rachel. It's their first one together and he needs it to be special, so when Quinn volunteered to help him out, he took Baby Mama up on her offer and dragged her along on his little journey. What he doesn't expect is Kurt to see him and for Beyonce to immediately tell his girlfriend and for him to scream at him in the middle of a glee reunion party at Mercedes' house. When she won't shut up long enough for him to explain himself, he throws the damn velvet box at her head and has to stop himself from laughing when she gasps at the diamond Star of David necklace he'd picked out for her. Everyone was pretty stunned that anything was capable of rendering Rachel Berry speechless.

**19. Or up and leave me?**  
Santana goes through this phase their junior year of college where she thinks maybe that she's bi again and starts to hook up with every guy she sees. All of their friends worry about it except Puck because he knows it's just a phase and that his best friend still really likes pussy. Except for one night she does too many tequila shots and he has to carry her back to his apartment to sleep it off and Rachel shows up unannounced after a late rehearsal at NYADA. Puck's asleep in his bedroom and a half-naked Santana made it just too his doorway before she passed out. Rachel lets out a horrible sob when she finds them and Puck waits with a start just before she darts out of the apartment. He doesn't even bother with shoes as he chases her down the staircase and out into the middle of the street. "You know I would never cheat on you, baby," he whispers when he finally catches up with her, pulling her tightly into his arms and refusing to let go because he knows she wants to leave. "She was drunk and she needed a place to stay. You have to believe me." She still isn't sure that she wants to believe him but goes up to his apartment so they can talk anyhow. It's only when Santana pulls off one of her heels and throws it at Puck's bald head and complains about the marching band inside her head that Rachel decides that maybe her boyfriend was much more of a saint than a sinner after all.

**20. How deep is our bond if that's all it takes for you to be gone?**  
Rachel disappears from McKinley without a word two weeks shy of the end of school their junior year. No one has heard from her, and as her boyfriend, Puck is very worried. He tries to call her house, stops by to visit, but her fathers always say that she isn't there but that she's fine and that's all that he needs to know. He finally finds out from a friend of his mom's from temple that Rachel has gone to stay with Leroy's sister in Canton three months later and makes the trip in nearly half the time it should probably take. She's sitting on the porch drinking a glass of lemonade when his old truck comes rambling up, and he sees it as soon as he gets to the edge of the sidewalk. "You're pregnant," he says evenly, not angrily or sadly or surprisedly. Her hands rest on her slightly swollen stomach and he remembers Quinn looking like this when she was about four months along. He makes his way to her, wrapping her in a tight hug, and bends to whisper in her ear. "We're not giving this one up this time. This one is ours for keeps."

**21. Could you love me in a Bentley, could you love me on a bus?**  
Rachel's fathers had always given her the best of everything, while Puck's mother had always given him the best she could manage. Rachel had always been the center of her fathers' universe, while Puck had always played a supporting role in making sure that he actually even had a family. Rachel knew that she could rely on her dads for anything, while Puck knew that his mom could count on him for everything. They had been given the opposite of everything in their short lives, but none of that seemed to matter when they got together. Rachel would discard her champagne tastes and affluent lifestyle if it meant a future of public bus rides and shared Ramen dinners with Noah Puckerman. She never needed more than that, but Puck was sure gonna try his damnedest to make sure that she had it all - that she had everything.

**Fin.**

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**Author's Note: Credit for the questions goes to 50 Cent and his "21 Questions."**


End file.
